Think tank calls for police staff networks to be axed

The report, Mixed Messages? Police Impartiality & the National Association of Muslim Police, is authored by David Spencer, a former Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector and the think tank’s Head of Crime & Justice, alongside Dr Paul Stott and Andrew Gilligan.

It recommends a “Police Impartiality Act” that would either abolish staff networks outright or, short of that, bar them from public funding, require full financial transparency, and confine their activity strictly to internal member support.

The report finds that 20 of the 43 Home Office forces, plus Police Scotland, list a local Muslim Police Association, of which NAMP counts 19 as formally affiliated. It draws on Freedom of Information requests, force policies and NAMP’s own published material to examine the organisation’s activities and its links to external bodies including the Muslim Council of Britain, which successive governments have declined to engage with.

Among the episodes it highlights: a NAMP policy paper on anti-Muslim hatred, since removed from the organisation’s website, that drew a formal complaint to Policing Minister Sarah Jones from the Jewish Leadership Council; and a draft NPCC document — “Operating Principles for National Staff Support Networks” — which the report says was watered down on impartiality wording between an earlier version reported by The Guardian and the April 2026 draft obtained by Policy Exchange under FOI.

The report also revisits West Midlands Police’s role in blocking a Maccabi Tel Aviv fixture in November 2025, which led to the departure of Chief Constable Craig Guildford, using it as a wider case study in force-level engagement with faith and community organisations.

NAMP has previously said material attributed to it did not represent the organisation’s views.